1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a measurement device for measuring and displaying a physical quantity such as a heartbeat, a pulsation, an atmospheric pressure, or an atmospheric temperature.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Biological information such as a heartbeat or a pulsation, and environmental information such as an atmospheric pressure or an atmospheric temperature are sometimes measured during sports training, such as running. Since it is desirable for a user (e.g. a runner) to be able to timely check the measurement results, a measurement device desirably has a wearable construction. In addition, since the measurement device should not interfere with running, the measurement device needs to be miniature and light. Measurement devices which meet these requests include measurement devices integrated with a watch, and a watch type measurement device.
A display area is extremely limited due to the request for miniaturization. However, it is desirable that the display of the measurement device is easy to see so that the user himself/herself can check the measurement results during training. There is a measurement device for displaying the measurement results in the form of a graph in order to make its display easy to see (refer to JP 10-234685 A, for example).
The measurement device described in JP 10-234685A is adapted to process the measured biological information in accordance with a processing mode set by a user to display the processing results on a segmented display unit or a dot matrix display unit. The segmented display unit is a display unit capable of displaying numeric values to display thereon accurate values concerned with the processing results. The dot matrix display unit displays thereon the processing results in the form of a graph, such as a bar graph, which the user can easily check at a glance, on the basis of a combination of displays of the coordinates represented by the corresponding values on the X-axis and the y-axis.
It is considered to be desirable that as a scale of the x-axis and the y-axis, a maximum scale with which the processing results can be displayed within a screen is automatically selected so that the user can easily check a change in data. In addition, as for information displayed by such a measurement device, various kinds of information are conceivable. It is possible to display a target range set by the user together with a graph of a mean value or an instantaneous value.
For a measurement device of this sort, there are a large number of items that the user wants to be displayed, including a physical quantity such as a heartbeat, a pulsation, an atmospheric temperature, and an atmospheric pressure, a relationship between a physical value and a target value, a graph representing a change in physical quantity, a count value of a time, and a lap value. If all of these items are intended to be simultaneously displayed on a screen, it is necessary to display each item in a small size, or to increase the size of the screen.
If each item is displayed in a small size, it is difficult for the user to check the item. On the other hand, it is not preferable to increase the size of the screen because a measurement device is preferably small and light.